The most dangerous road-user: The pedestrian.

I've had a long week. I've lost two races, got two essays and a problem sheet to write, and I have to find where several hundred pounds has run off to.

But all that I signed up to, in a sense. So I'm not going to moan about that. I'm going to moan about cycling. Because I didn't sign up to be abused every time I get on the road.

I love cycling. I cycle practically every day. It's a good way to keep fit, but more importantly, it's probably the fastest, cheapest way of getting around Oxford. Even if you have a car! Believe me, in bad traffic, I can run rings around jams.

But what winds me up is the respect I get as a cyclist. Or rather, the complete lack of it.

A cyclist is a road user, just like a car driver, bus, or motorbike. But for some reason, when a pedestrian crosses the road, they will look both ways for a car, bus or motorbike, and will completely fail to see a cyclist. Or they will step just off the pavement to get round someone or something, forgetting that cyclists have to stick to just that part of the road. Now, I confess I do not cycle with enough kit on to look like a neon sign, but I'm hardly invisible, and I do carry reflectors and lights. And yet, people will walk out in front of me, either because they didn't look, or because they did and decided to do so anyway!

I'm really not kidding. Every time I cycle into town, someone will walk out in front of me. I usually have time to slow down or swerve, but this is still rude behavior! You don't walk out in front of cars or buses just because they have time to slow down for you!

But today, it was particularly bad. I was cycling back home, down a cycle lane while some cars were lined up to my right. They had stopped for a red light, and the tailback was a good 100m or so. And so I cycled down the hill, with a clear view in front of me. But the cars meant that if some idiot decided to cross the road between the stopped cars, I couldn't see him.

So, some idiot, who had obviously decided to take this opportunity to cross the road, walked out in front of me. Without even looking!

He must have seen the cycle lane. There were great big white lines marking it. But he didn't look left until he heard my brakes screeching.

My brakes have to be slammed on to be screeching, as I've tuned them pretty well. If I can hear them, it means I'm not braking properly. If you brake properly on a bike, you don't slow down quite as much as you can. If you don't brake properly on a bike, you go over the handle bars.

I went over the handle bars. It was that or hit him. And, well, I'm a giver.

Fortunately, I've been to the odd judo class in my youth, so I know how to fall without breaking your collar bone. So I picked myself up, dusted myself off, checked my bike was still okay, and then looked this guy in the eye, and waited for an apology, which I got. If I hadn't got one, I don't know if I could have kept myself from having a flaming argument. But I did, so I politely told him to make sure he looked where he was going next time, and then got back on my bike and went. Hopefully that's one person who will be a bit more aware of cyclists next time.

Today, with all the talk about going green and saving the planet, it would be nice if more people cycled. It would not only help solve climate change, it would also help deal with the growing problem of obesity in this country, as well as congestion in some cities. You can get six bikes in the space a car takes! Bikes also cost far, far less to buy and maintain than a car.

But we will not get more people cycling if people do not enjoy cycling. And they will not enjoy it unless they have to have the reflexes of a cat to prevent the accidents caused by the arrogance of pedestrians, and the patience of saint not to lose their temper at them. Sadly, there are not many of these people.

So, Mr Geoff Hoon, Transport Secretary, if you want to get more people cycling, you need to change the attitude, not of the cyclists, but of the pedestrians. I am not scared of being run over by a car whilst cycling. I am scared of having to brake and swerve to avoid an idiot who deserves a Darwin Award, and then being run over by a car. And worse, that driver will probably lose his licence for bad driver, when in fact he or she was perfectly safe. And the pedestrian will walk away feeling entirely blameless, when in fact he should be suffering the consequences of his stupidity.